Rail-joint



(No Model.) 2 SheetS-''Sheet 1.

G. WEEKS. RAIL JOINT.

No. 487,340. Patented Dec. 6, 1892.

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(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

G. WEEKS..

RAIL JOINT.

No. 487,340. Patented Dec. 6 189 2.

" -NTTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE WEEKS, OF OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA.

RAIL-JOINT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 487,340, dated December 6, 1892.

Application filed July 7, 1891. Serial No. 398,713. (No model.) 7

T0 aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE WEEKs, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city of Oakland, county of Alameda, and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rail-Joints, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in the construction of joints for railway-rails; and it has for its object, mainly, to overcome and prevent the pounding of the ends of the rails, to secure a perfect gage and alignment, and a smooth and continuous rail-surface at the joints in the construction of railwaytracks.

To these ends and objects my invention consists in a splice-joint of novel construction, as hereinafter fully described and set forth.

The accompanying drawings, that form part of this specification, represent the manner in which I apply and carry out my invention in producing a joint for the ordinary T-rail, and illustrate, also, the same construction applied to a joint of therail known as the Bargion rail to show that the invention is applicable to special forms of rails as well as to the ordinary T-rail.

Figure 1 is a plan or top view of the joint. as formed on the ends of T-rails. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same joint. Fig. 3 is a top view, on a reduced scale, of the two ends of a rail, with the principal intermediate portion or body of the rail broken away. Fig. A is a vertical cross-section through the joint at about the line an 00, Fig. 2. Figs. 5 to 10 illustrate the same form of joint as applied to a composite rail-such, for example, as the Bargion rail.

In the views, Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the joint. Fig. 6 is a top view. Fig. 7 is a top view, on a reduced scale, of the two ends of the tread or upper section of the rail cut and bent for the joints. Fig. 8 is a vertical crosssection through the joint at about the line 00 1 Fig. 6. Fig. 9 is a side elevation of the bent-end portion of the rail proper, and Fig. 10 is a top view of the chair section or base portion of the rail without the top section or tread.

To form my improved joint, the end of the one rail is bent outwardly at the point and the end portion of the next rail to join it is bent outwardly at the same angle at a point beyond its end to provide a portion for the lap. This is done by making a double or return bend in the rail that brings this lap portion back again parallel with the body of the rail and forms an offset which is equal to the full width of the head. The inner or adjacent flanges of the two ends are then cut away to bring the inner sides of both heads closely together for the length of the lap, and the head or top of the outwardly-bent point is beveled or cut away on the inner side to fit the bend or offset of the other rail. The two parts thus shaped and fitted are united by bolts which pass through the webs of both rails along the lap and are held by nuts without fish plates or bars. The bending of the railA brings its point directly over the web and both the point and web fit snugly against the return-bend of the opposite rail, while the foot of the railA is extended, giving a wide hold upon the tie and affording a bracing-support to the whole joint. Oblong holesor Wide slots O for the bolts are made in the webs to allow sufficient sliding movement or longitudinal play in the joint, and the same are provided in the fastenings that secure the rails to the ties or bed by making wide holes for the spikes or other fastenings that take through the flanges. A fish-bar, of wood G, may be placed between the two parts of the joint before inserting and drawing up the bolts. This construction will be understood more clearly, perhaps, from Figs. 1, 2, and 3 of the drawings, where A and B indicate the ends of the two adjoining rails thus formed and joined. The ends of the rail A being bent outwardly, as described, its head or top 0t is beveled or cut away on the line at the same angle, and the inner flange a is cutoff from the point a to the end about flush with the inner edge of the head a above. The rail B is bent at B to form an offset, and from that portion the rail is returned to the straight line again. The inner flange b is then cut away from the point I) along the offset backward to the main part of the rail beyond the bend, so that the treads or wheeL-bearing surfaces of the two rails set closely together for the full length of the lap and along the diagonal meeting line. At the pointed end of the rail the full thickness of web should be retained, and therefore that portion which is reduced by .beveling the point and taking off the inner flange is brought to full thickness on the outer side, as seen at a, Fig. 1. The holes D in the flanges are elongated to allow limited longitudinal movement of the rails under expansion and contraction of the rail-sections; but this play of the rails on their fastenings should be less than the longitudinal play provided for the bolts of the joint in order to prevent the bolts from twisting or jamming in their holes. This movement of the two ends at the joint can take place under the most extreme conditions withoutaffecting the fastenings, and while the joint remains stiff and close under allforces acting in a lateral direction it is elastic and has great expansibility in a Ion-l gitudinal direction. Under all longitudinal movements, also, there is a smooth and continuous bearing-surface across the entire length of the joint, for the wheel is taken by the face of one section before it leaves the other section of the joint, and in such travel or passage across the line of separation between the two rails takes place so gradually that the wave of the rail or the elevation or depression of the rail in advance of the wheel is transmitted across the joint instead of being broken at the joint and becomescontinnous along the whole rail.

Under conditions of extreme contraction at thejoints the passage from one rail to the other is smooth and unbroken, and under extreme expansion the ends of the rail cannot jam and so draw up the spikes or fastenings.

that-hold down the splice, for the pressure of the rails against each other longitudinally will be converted by the inclined faces of the joint into lateral movement and a direct strain upon the bolts, and this in such case is counteracted by the fastenings of the lapped portions of both rails. Such strain on the bolts is resisted by double spiking the flanges of both sections to the ties.

Fig. 3 of the drawings represents the two ends of a length or section of rail bentand cut to form the joint with the adjoining sections laid in the track.

This joint can be readily applied to composite rails-such as the Bargion rail, for eX- am ple-in which the head or tread of the rail is in one piece and the flange with a grooved or channeled bed to take atongue on the bottom of the head forms the bottom of the rail.

Figs. 5 to 10, inclusive, illustrate the forms of the two ends for this joint in a Bargion rail. The parts are cut and bent to the same form; but the web or tongue a of the head or top section A requires to be cut awayunder the bend on the rail- B, in order toset over the standing sides a of the channelon the bottom section A B Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim, and desireto secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A splice-joint for railway-rails,consist-. ing of a bendon one railhavinga point and a head beveled on the inner side lyingover the web, a bend on the end portion of the other rail to which said-beveled head is fitted, cut-away flanges or bottoms on both-rails, and elongated holes for the fastenings to secure theends of the rails to the ties and to unite the ends of the splice to each other, substantially as set forth.

2. A railway-rail having the head or sur- I :face bent as described and beveled on the inner side at the point and a cut-away flange and onthe opposite end a bent or offset portion with a cut-away flange, said ends beingadapted to fitcorresponding ends of rails and form splice-joints.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand and seal.

GEORGE WEEKS.v [L. s] Witnesses: I

EDWARD E. OSBORN, GHAs. E. KELLY. 

